Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
Mayne-Vieil was then purchased by the Fontemoing family; a group of renowned vintners from Libourne. They created a new Fronsac vineyard which produced the so-called "new french claret"-high and aged wines similar to those being produced by the English merchants from the Chartrons in the Médoc.
In 1918, Louis SEZE acquired the property. A few years later, he abandoned his notary office to devote himself to Mayne-Vieil. His son Roger, an agronomist who succeeded him in the early 1950's, expanded the vineyards to make a contigous and beautiful plateau . He was the first proprietor of Mayne Vieil to begin bottling and selling the wine directly to private clients.
His children Bertrand and Marie-Christine Sèze succeeded Roger SEZE in the 1980's. They enlarged the domain of Mayne Vieil to more than 10 hectares.
Home of the very first remarkable Right Bank wines, dating back to the 1730s, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac actually retained more fame than Pomerol well into the 19th century. Today these wines represent some of Bordeaux’s best hidden gems.
Fronsac is a very small region at an unusually high elevation compared to other Bordeaux appellations. Its vineyards unroll along the oak-dotted hills bordering the river’s edge, making it perhaps Bordeaux’s prettiest and most majestic countryside.
Merlot covers 60% of the vineyard acreage; the rest of the vines are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac appellations are limited to the higher land where soils are predominantly limestone and sandstone. Lower vineyards along the Dordogne River mainly qualify for Bordeaux AOC status
The best Fronsac are deeply concentrated in ripe red and black berry; they have a solid mineral backbone and are rich and plush on the finish.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.